One of the most dramatic episodes of House of the Dragon to date aired on Sunday night, featuring a dragon scenario that arguably surpassed the devastating conclusion of Season 1. Similar to the incident whereby little Lucerys met her demise, death was once again summoned by Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his terrifying dragon, Vhagar.
Like with Aemond and Lucerys, the dragon combat scene from tonight is a memorable one from George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, but the show’s depiction varies somewhat from the novel. That being said, I find the variation to be really appealing. We’ll discuss that shortly.
This was a very disastrous episode for King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), who finds out that Aemond and Ser Criston Cole (Fabian Frankel) have been leading the war effort without him at a meeting of his Small Council. He tries to give them the order to abstain from attacking the castle Rook’s Rest out of outrage. His goal is to obtain Harrenhal. The lord of Harrenhal, his Master of Whisperers, Ser Larys Strong, informs him that the castle is “more crippled than I am” and will only confuse Daemon (Matt Smith). Aemond informs his elder brother that the attack on Rook’s Rest cannot be called off at this point. Cole is getting ready to strike.
To ensure that no one else in the room can understand them, Aemond converses with his brother in Valyrian. His brother’s halting response at the conclusion indicates that he is not as proficient as he is, despite his obvious fluency. Aemond jests at his sibling. Aemond was preparing the war while he was busy pretending to be king, assigning lickspittle lackeys to the Kingsguard and so on.
Aegon, infuriated, goes to his mother for help. He yells, “They won’t listen to me!” His mother says mockingly, “What could he possibly have to say that they should listen to?” She asks, “Do you think wearing the crown imbues you with wisdom suddenly?” Her remarks hurt more than those of his brother.
“What would you have me do?” he pleads. She tells him the one thing he can do: Nothing at all. It’s too much for the brash young king. Later, he stews over the indignity of it all before finally making up his mind to take his dragon Sunfyre and head to Rook’s Rest to aid his Hand in battle. What he doesn’t know is that Cole and Aemond have laid a careful trap for whatever dragons the Blacks send to thwart the Green assault on the seaside keep.
Returning to Dragonstone, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) encounters her own Council of Malcontents. Her unexpected absence has even angered her son Jace (Harry Collett), who is subsequently taken aback when she confesses that she went to King’s Landing to meet with Alicent (Olivia Cooke) in secret. There is strong resistance to her plan to bring her dragon Syrax to Rook’s Rest. She won’t let Jace go even though he wants to. “You must send me,” declares Eve Best as the Princess Rhaenys. Meleys, her dragon and the Red Queen, is no stranger to combat. It would have made more sense for them to convey multiple messages.
Shortly after Cole launches his attack on the keep, Rhaenys and Meleys fly over the battleground. Men-at-arms flee in terror as she pours flames across the field. However, Critson Cole was hoping for precisely this. He gives the order to shoot signal arrows, and in the distance, we spot Aemond and his legendary beast, Vhagar, lurking in the trees.
Cole can’t say anything when Sunfyre appears above the forest. Gwayne Hightower, Ser., is furious. “This was your strategy! To put the king’s life at danger!
Cole curtly responds, “No,” then starts to improvise. Riding out, he addresses the men with a stirring speech. He assures them that the king’s presence has blessed them.
Less poetic is Aemond’s response to his brother’s arrival. “Stupid,” he utters in a sour Valyrian voice.
When Meleys and Sunfyre first meet in the sky above Rook’s Rest, it’s obvious that the older dragon and rider are superior. The monarch cries with happiness when Vhagar shows up. Aegon’s relief turns to terror when Aemond approaches and whispers, “Dracarys,” causing a massive gout of flame to explode from the dragon. The dragon and rider fall from the sky, slamming onto the soil below. Sunfyre and Meleys are both consumed in flames, but the golden dragon takes the brunt of it. Spurring his horse toward his fallen king, Cole looks in horror.
Rhaenys takes off, but then a strange type of madness consumes her, and she returns to the battle, giving the order for her dragon to strike. Once more, Rhaenys escapes mainly unharmed from the sky battle between the much tiny Meleys and the enormous, hoary beast Vhagar. However, Aemond chooses to go in for the kill and ambush her as she flees the conflict. Meleys and Rhaenys fall as the larger dragon clamps his jaws around the smaller dragon’s throat.
The only person to exit unscathed is Aemond, riding the oldest surviving dragon. This is the same dragon that Queen Visenya, Aegon the Conqueror’s sister-wife, once rode into battle. Legend has it that the dragon’s breath is so hot it can melt a knight’s armor. It’s unclear at this point in the episode whether Rhaenys or Aegon survived, although neither seems to have a decent chance.
Briefly, I will discuss the book version. Spoiler warning for that version of events.
There is no indication in the narrative that Aemond strikes Aegon on purpose. When the three dragons collide in the sky, they all fall to Earth at the same time. Only Aemond shows up. When Aegon is discovered, he is severely hurt, his armor has melted into his skin, and he is barely alive. Beside Meleys’s corpse is a burnt body thought to be Rhaenys’. Sunfyre is severely injured and has had one wing torn off. For the following year, Aegon spent most of his days in bed. In his place, Aemond assumed the role of Realm Protector.
The way that Lucerys’ death was altered is what makes this story intriguing. In the episode, Aemond was visibly shocked when Vhagar killed Arrax, Lucerys’s dragon and his nephew. All he was trying to do was scare the young man. It was almost as if he regretted killing Lucerys. Now, he deliberately attacks his own brother over Rook’s Rest and shows no remorse at all. This makes sense. When Aemond was younger, all the boys made fun of him, but Aegon was undoubtedly the leader and the main bully. Aemond sensed his chance to finally eliminate his brother and seized it.
And thus commences the Dance of Dragons, the first of many such breathtaking (and exorbitantly costly) airborne dragon fights. Rhaenys, the Queen Who Never Was, should not have had to fall in combat, especially when she had a chance to flee. Even though Aegon isn’t a particularly decent guy or king, I have some sympathy for him because he had a horrible upbringing and was indulged and neglected in a way that only princes and princesses can be.
Visions, Prophecies And Muppets Oh My!
Other noteworthy events from this episode:
Daemon’s Harrenhal troubles.
- In a different dream, Daemon sees young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) conversing with him in what at first seems like gibberish but is, I think, Valyrian. She makes fun of him and claims that her father loves her more than he does Daemon, which is why he hates her. With this sword, he chops off her head, marking the first—though not the last—beheading of this event.
- Following his vision, Daemon runs upon young Oscar Tully, Grover Tully’s grandson. Other Sesame Street characters are included in this family tree, such as Elmo Tully. George R.R. Martin is so cute. Very cheeky. Little Oscar is of no assistance; the young heir to River Run will not take the lead, even when his grandfather is disabled. “I require men who take action,” Daemon sneers at him.
- Additionally, Daemon converses with Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), the witch, who comes across as cheerful in a mysterious way. After she gives him a concoction to drink, he meets a Blackwood lord and believes the cupbearer to be one of his deceased wives. For the Queen’s consort, Harrenhal has been a very disorienting stop thus far.
Rhaenyra tells Jace about the Song of Ice and Fire.
- When we see the Catspaw Dagger that Aemond is clutching at the end of this episode, Viserys tells his daughter this in the very first scene of the show. The vision of a powerful foe that only a united Westeros could defeat, as envisioned by Aegon the Conqueror. The promised prince. Since no one else is aware of this prophecy, Rhaenyra must tell her son about it. Will the prophecy endure amidst the ongoing civil conflict raging throughout the kingdom? Did Jaime Lannister, the Mad King, know about it? Had he passed it on to Rhaegar, his heir? Given that Rhaegar passed away before his heir reached adulthood, would it have made a difference? Daenerys was undoubtedly unaware of all of it at the time she rose to power.
Rhaenys finds out that her husband Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) is the bastard son of Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim).
- This seems to be strongly hinted, at least. When she first meets the young guy and notices that the man who saved her husband resembles him greatly—something not many people in Westeros do—she remarks, “Your mother must be very beautiful.” Rather than hiding the young guy in the tides, she advises Corlys to recognize him and help him grow. This scene only strengthened my already strong affection for Rhaenys. In sharp contrast is Catelyn Stark’s animosity against Jon Snow
Alicent has an abortion.
- The Queen Dowager asks the Grand Maester to compose her what I now know is an abortion potion (readers corrected me when I initially assumed this was milk of the poppy and thought she was getting too stressed). She tells a false story about missing the Small Council meeting when Larys pays her a visit, but it’s obvious he knows she’s lying. Is it any coincidence that Varys, our somewhat less eerie Master of Whisperers from Game of Thrones, and Larys share nearly the same name?
Ser Criston Cole is a genuinely talented commander and warlord.
- I say this with the utmost reluctance because, although Cole is an evil guy in almost every aspect of his life, he is obviously more than capable of guiding soldiers into combat. He is courageous, self-assured, shrewd, and straightforward. Tactically, his idea with Aemond made sense. Due to his actions, Team Black is now on the defensive.
All things considered, this was yet another outstanding episode of House of the Dragon, which is already developing into an excellent second season. I look forward to and fear everything that lies ahead. This is hardly an idyllic tale. But then, violent family civil wars occur infrequently. Isn’t Aemond truly deserving of the moniker “Kinslayer”? Imagine the drastically different nature of this conflict if Laena had survived and Aemond had never claimed Vhagar as a young man.
Though there has been a great deal of bloodshed and death building up to this conflict in the skies, this episode is easily one of the best of the entire series thus far and the most thrilling and deadly of the second season.
